Chair with u-shaped wooden support beams

ABSTRACT

A chair seat and back structure is supported for rocking motion by a pair of U-shaped molded plywood beams of substantially constant cross-section, each beam having a floor engaging portion with a long intermediate upwardly bowed part. A pivoted locking member is provided for selective positioning to prevent rocking.

United States Patent [191 Emold [451 Sept. 11, 1973 CHAIR WITH U-SHAPEDWOODEN SUPPORT BEAMS [75] Inventor: Harry G. Emold, Milwaukee, Wis.

[73] Assignee: Relaxaway, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis.

[22] Filed: Dec. 23, 1971 [21] App]. No.: 211,398

[52] U.S. Cl 297/259, 297/269, 297/445 [51] Int. Cl A47c 7/00, A47c7/20, A47c 3/02 [58] Field of Search 248/387, 392;

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,913,038 l1/l959 McDerby248/392 3,556,591 1/1971 Smith 297/439 1,317,580 9/1919 2,271,461 l/l942Musselman 297/447 Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nwnberg Attorney-Irvin A.Lavine [57] ABSTRACT A chair seat and back structure is supported forrocking motion by a pair of U-shaped molded plywood beams ofsubstantially constant cross-section, each beam having a floor engagingportion with a long intermediate upwardly bowed part. A- pivoted lockingmemher is provided for selective positioning to prevent rocking.

9 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures CHAIR WITH U-SIIAPED WOODEN SUPPORT BEAMSBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The prsent invention relates to a chair, andmore particularly to a chair supported for rocking motion by a pair ofgenerally U-shaped beams.

There have been provided heretofore chairs which were capable ofyielding under the weight of a person sitting in the chair, so that arocking or oscillating motion was obtained. These chairs were providedwith a generally U-shaped support structure of material which wassufficiently resilient that it yielded under the weight of the occupant,and could be oscillated or rocked by the occupant. Such chairs wereheretofore widely used as lawn or garden furniture, the U-shaped membersbeing made of metal, such as flat strips or straps of metal, orappropriately bent metal tubes. Such chairs were not generally accepted,however, for interior use, because they lacked sufficient aestheticappeal.

While not presently known to have been ever actually manufactured, therewas suggested a chair of this general type having U-shaped members madeof wood: see Mies, U. S. Pat. No. 2,283,755. In that patent, generallyU-shaped members of wood were disclosed,

which diminished in cross-section in going from the floor engagingportion to the upstanding leg portion and thence to the seat-engagingportion. This suggested construction would not be satisfactory for anumber of reasons, including not only the aesthetic reason of awkwardappearance, but in addition because of the expense involved in producingsuch members having sufficient strength to bear up under the weight ofoccupants of such chairs. In practice, the actual manufacture of woodenmembers having continuously decreasing cross-sections presentssubstantial and expensive problems, so that the proposed solution wasnot satisfactory from the important economics standpoint.

Another suggestion is found in McDerby U. S. Pat. No. 2,913,038, wherethe U-shaped members are of ply-wood molded to provide a continuouscurve at the bight connecting the floor engaging portion and the seatengaging portion, with the floor engaging portion being straight. Thisconstruction provides only a single spring.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a chairconstruction which is capable of rocking, being economical tomanufacture, and of improved, pleasing appearance. The chairconstruction of the present invention embodies a pair of generallyU-shaped ply-wood beams, each made of molded, laminated and glued woodplies, there being provided thereby an upper, generally horizontal,seatengaging portion, this seat-engaging portion being joined by anarcuate portion to a generally vertically extending or upstanding legportion. At its lower end, the leg portion is joined by an integralarcuate portion to a generally horizontal floor engaging portioncharacterized particularly by a front part adjacent the lower arcuateportion, an intermediate upwardly bowed part which is relatively long incomparison to the total length of the floor engaging portion, and aterminal or rear part, rearwardly of the intermediate bowed part. Theintermediate bowed part functions as an additional spring means, andassists the arcuate portion connecting the upstanding leg and the floorengaging portions in resisting backward tipping or over-turning of thechair under the load of the occupant. The U-shapcd integral wooden beamof the present invention is of substantially constant cross-sectionthroughout.

A pivoted locking member is provided for converting the chair into afixed position chair.

It will therefore be seen that among the objects of the presentinvention are to provide a chair suitable for use in-doors, providing anaesthetic appearance, and having sufficient and adequate strength. Afurther object of the present invention is to provide a rocking chairhaving generally U-shaped beam members made of wood, and of economicalconstruction. Other objects will be readily understood from aconsideration of the following description, claims and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF Til-IE DRAWING FIG. I is an elevational side view,with parts removed, of a chair in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the chair shown in FIG. ll.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a U-shaped member forming a part of thechair of the present invention.

FIG. 4i is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 4-4 ofFIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a side view, to an enlarged scale, of the member shown in FIG.3.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view showing a pivoted locking member, with partsbroken away.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings,wherein like or corresponding reference numerals are used to designatelike or corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shownin FIG. I a chair generally designated 10, in accordance with thepresent invention. The chair It) may be seen to comprise a seat 12 andback 14, which may be formed as a unit in accordance with existingpractices, and including a pair of arms 16 and 18 (see also FIG. 2).There is preferably provided a cushion 29, which may be separate fromthe above described chair structure, or formed as a portion of the seatstructure.

Leg means in accordance with the present invention are provided forsupporting the seat 12 and back 14, for rocking or oscillating motionunder weights and forces imposed by an occupant of the chair I0, suchleg means being generally designated 30, and including a pair ofgenerally U-shaped beams 32 and 32, of substantially identicalconstruction.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the generally U-shaped structure of the woodenbeam 32 is shown, and includes a substantially flat seat-engagingportion 34, an upper arcuate portion 36, an upstanding leg portion 38, alower arcuate portion 42 and a floor engaging portion 44, the latterhaving three parts. Adjacent the lower arcuate portion 42 is arelatively short and flat part 46, rearwardly of which is upwardly bowedpart 48 which is relatively long, and rearwardly of the upwardly bowedpart 48 is a generally flat rear part 52. The U- shaped wooden beam 32,as shown in FIG. 4, is made of molded, laminated and glued wood plies,for exam ple l3 plies, and is of substantially unvarying or constantcross-section from end to end thereof, transversely of the axisextending through each of the noted portions 34, 38 and 44.

Referring now to FIG. 5, it will be seen that the seat support portion34 is approximately twice the length of the upstanding leg portion 38,and to provide stability and strength with economy, the entirefloor-engaging portion 44 is approximately three times the length of theupstanding leg portion 38. In addition, the upwardly bowed part 48 offloor-engaging portion 44 is approximately two-thirds of the totallength thereof, but may be somewhat shorter, down to approximatelyone-half of the length thereof.

When the load of an occupant seated in the chair is borne by the legmeans 30, each of the generally U- shaped integral beams assists inresisting the backward over-turning moment resulting from the weight andforces imposed by the occupant. As will be readily understood, thearcuate portions 36 and 42 flex or yield within the elastic limitsthereof, and because of the provision of the upwardly bowed part 48 offloor-engaging portion 44, the resistance to over-turning and toyielding which is provided by the lower arcuate portion 42 issubstantially assisted and enhanced thereby. That is to say, the forceof a person seated in the chair 10 will generate a counter clockwisemoment (as viewed in FIG. 4) about the arcuate portion 42, which will beresisted by the arcuate portion 42. However, there will also be produceda resistance to that moment by the flexing of the bowed part 48: bowedpart 48 not only acts as a spring giving a restoring or counter-actingforce, but it is to be specifically noted that it has three areas offlexure or change of direction of the neutral axis thereof, one being atthe region of the merging of the bowed part 48 with the forward part 46,another at the region of merger of bowed part 48 with rear part 52, andthe third at the upper region or area of the bowed part 48.

As will be clearly seen in FIG. 5, the parts 46 and 52 rest upon a flooror other supporting surface, while the bowed part 48 is above the levelthereof.

In order to limit the extent of bending or flexure of the leg means 30,there is provided a stop member 54, positioned on the rear part 52, sothat upon extreme depression of the seat 12 and back 14, movementthereof will be limited.

For some occupants of the rocking or oscillating chair 10, it may bedesirable to prevent the noted rocking or oscillating motion, and forthis reason there is provided a locking arrangement generally designated60, in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown the rear end of theseat-engaging portion 34 secured by screws or the like to the seat 12.Secured in turn, to the portion 34 is a fitting 62 having a pair ofdepending ears 64 and 66 between which is a strut 68, pivotallyconnected thereto by a pin 72. Stop means (not shown) may be provided tolimit the extent of pivoting of the strut 68, so that when it is inposition so that the lower end thereof engages with the upper surface ofthe part 52, it is held in that position. Hence, oscillating or rockingmotion of the seat 12 and back 14 will be prevented.

There has been provided a chair capable ofa rocking or oscillatingmotion, and including a pair of economically manufactured supportstructures in the form of generally U-shaped ply-wood beams. These beamsare characterized by a floor-engaging portion having an upwardly bowedpart which cooperates with a lower arcuate portion so that bothcontribute to the resistance to over-turning and straining of theU-shaped beam: as a consequence, the beam may be of substantiallyconstant cross-section with resulting economy of manufacture. Since thechair in accordance with the present invention is provided with woodenbeams of the noted construction, the chair has a pleasing appearancewhile being suitably economical. Further, the relationship of thelengths of the constituent parts and portions of the U-shaped beam aresuch that they contribute to both strength and appearance.

In addition, a pivoted strut is provided to lock out the oscillatingaction, where desired, and a limiting stop is provided to prevent thepossibility of over-stressing the U-shaped wooden beams.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention and thereforethe invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings anddescribed in the specification but only as indicated in the ap pendedclaims.

I claim:

1. A chair comprising a seat and a back, and leg means, said leg meanscomprising a pair of generally U-shaped continuous wooden beams eachincluding a floor engaging portion, an upstanding leg portion and a seatsupport portion,

said upstanding leg portion being connected to said other portions byupper and lower arcuate portions,

said floor engaging portions comprising integral resilient meansdeflectable under the load imposed by a person sitting in said chair andincluding a relatively long intermediate upwardly bowed part, a forwardpart adjacent said lower arcuate portion and a rear part,

said forward and rear parts being at a lower level than saidintermediate bowed part.

2. The chair of claim 1, wherein said floor engaging portion isapproximately three times the length of said leg portions.

3. The chair of claim 2, wherein the length of said bowed part isapproximately one-half to two-thirds the length of said floor engagingportion.

4. The chair of claim 1, wherein the length of the said bowed part isapproximately one-half to two-thirds the length of said floor engagingportion.

5. The chair of claim 1, and further including means pivotally connectedto one said portion for preventing bending of said beams, whereby toprevent oscillatory movement of said seat and back.

6. The chair of claim 5, said means being pivotally connected to saidseat support portion and extending in one position thereof to said floorengaging portion.

7. The chair of claim 1, wherein each said beam is of substantiallyconstant cross-section.

8. The chair of claim 7, wherein each said beam is of molded, laminatedand glued wood plies.

9. The chair of claim 1, wherein each said beam is of molded, laminatedand glued wood plies.

i I. II 4 4

1. A chair comprising a seat and a back, and leg means, said leg meanscomprising a pair of generally U-shaped continuous wooden beams eachincludinG a floor engaging portion, an upstanding leg portion and a seatsupport portion, said upstanding leg portion being connected to saidother portions by upper and lower arcuate portions, said floor engagingportions comprising integral resilient means deflectable under the loadimposed by a person sitting in said chair and including a relativelylong intermediate upwardly bowed part, a forward part adjacent saidlower arcuate portion and a rear part, said forward and rear parts beingat a lower level than said intermediate bowed part.
 2. The chair ofclaim 1, wherein said floor engaging portion is approximately threetimes the length of said leg portions.
 3. The chair of claim 2, whereinthe length of said bowed part is approximately one-half to two-thirdsthe length of said floor engaging portion.
 4. The chair of claim 1,wherein the length of the said bowed part is approximately one-half totwo-thirds the length of said floor engaging portion.
 5. The chair ofclaim 1, and further including means pivotally connected to one saidportion for preventing bending of said beams, whereby to preventoscillatory movement of said seat and back.
 6. The chair of claim 5,said means being pivotally connected to said seat support portion andextending in one position thereof to said floor engaging portion.
 7. Thechair of claim 1, wherein each said beam is of substantially constantcross-section.
 8. The chair of claim 7, wherein each said beam is ofmolded, laminated and glued wood plies.
 9. The chair of claim 1, whereineach said beam is of molded, laminated and glued wood plies.